Krebs starts HOT Scholarship for former high school

In the fall of 2013, Maryville College senior linebacker Josh Krebs set up the annual HOT (Hawks Original Team) Scholarship for a Hardin Valley High School senior football player that met certain GPA requirements and submitted an essay to be reviewed.

Krebs began attending Hardin Valley High School for his sophomore year (2008), when the school opened. “We didn’t even have a gym when we started playing, so we had to practice in a martial arts dojo,” Krebs said. The Hawks played a JV schedule that year, and by his junior year they played their first varsity schedule. Despite their efforts, the team finished with a 1-9 record.

In Krebs’s senior year, the Hardin Valley Hawks turned things around, improving to an impressive 7-4 record and making their first playoff appearance.

Krebs felt that his time on and off the field at Hardin Valley had a tremendous impact on who he is today. “My experience at Hardin Valley really prepared me for college, so much that I can’t even describe,” Krebs said. “Not only the football experience, but the school experience as well, and I just wanted to give back.”
Jack Defer received the scholarship this past year, and after pulling together donations from the Hawks Original Team, was awarded $500 to help him attend East Tennessee State University.

The experience Krebs received at Hardin Valley has shown throughout his years at Maryville College. He was awarded the Dean’s Scholarship upon admittance into MC, and has made the Dean’s List twice, earning him two USA South Academic All-Conference honors. Last year, Krebs received the Ryan Newhouse Award, which is given to a junior or senior who, in the judgment of the business, fine arts and humanities faculty at MC, typifies the finest characteristics of the liberal arts by uniting the fields of business and the humanities or fine arts in his or her academic life, personal growth and values. Krebs has been a resident assistant in Lloyd Hall for two years, and also started the MC Jiu-Jitsu Club.

“The teachers and administrators at Hardin Valley really pushed me to maximize my potential, and I think if it hadn’t been for them, I wouldn’t have learned how take advantage of the opportunities I’ve been given at Maryville College.”